Inflatable figure toy



March 14, 1933. DOROG, -F AL www@ INFLATABLE FIGURE TOY Filed June l5, 1951 uNvEN-roRs ATTORN EY atented Mar. 14, 1933 PATENT oFFlcE IBTVAN DOROGI AND LAJOB DOBOGI, 01?l BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, ABSIGHOBB OF ONE-HALF TO DE. DOBOGI O0. RUBBER GOODS FACTORY LIMITED, OF BUDAPEST, HUNGARY INFLATABLE FIGURE TOY Application tiled June 15, 1931, Serial No. 544,692, and in Hungary February 9, 1981.

When rubber is touched, the sensation is cold and unpleasant, and this is one of the objections to rubber toys. This disadvantage has been overcome up to now by uniting rub- 5 ber with textile material, either by finishing prevented the rubber from stretching, which was a great disadvantage. It has already been proposed to provide varnlshed rubber toys with ornaments'applied to the varnish. However such varnish greatly decreases the stretch of the rubber.

This invention relates to an inflatable and deflatable hollow rubber article having thin walls, which is ornamented with fibres adhering thereto, said rubber surface being provided wholly or only in arts thereof with a fibre cover consisting o individual loose fibres. Said cover permits the rubber to retain all or nearly all of its extensibility.

The invention is set forth in the following description and drawing which illustrates preferred embodiments thereof.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a side view of an inflatable rubber toy in the non-infiated condition in the form of a cat obtained in known manner from four superposed rubber sheets by stamping and welding operation.

Fig. 2 is a cross section according to line A-A through the above toy in the infiated condition.

Fig. 3 is a portion of the rubber wall of the toy in an increased scale. In this figure No. 1 is the rubber sheet forming the article; No. 2 the adhesive layer into which the fibres 'o, 3 are embedded with part of their length According to the invention such articles are produced by applying to and pressing on the sticky rubber surface to be provided with the fibre cover, loose individual fibres so that parts of the fibres become more or less imbedded in the rubber surface. Owing to the fact that these parts of the fibres cannot become felted but on the contrary are separated from each other by thin rubber films located between them,and that on the other hand the unattached free ends of the fibres are individually movable without any substantial resistance,-the original extensibility of the rubber`covered by the `fibres remains practically unaltered. At the same time, when the rubber layer is stretched or bent the individual covering bres are not restrained by the adjoining fibres, so that they can follow the movements of the rubber layer and then return to their original position, so that their attachment is substantially unaffected by such use.

By the use of individual and 'separated fibres it became for the first time possible to produce inflatable rubber toys f. i. animal figures which are extensible so that they can be easily inflated and shaped and which have a completely new and artistic appearance and Warm surface feel.

The attachment of the fibres can be accomplished in many ways. Some examples of czrrrying out the invention are described herea ter.

In the simplest way, the attachment of the fibres is effected by swelling the raw rubber surface by treating it with a solvent or a swelling agent, so that this surface becomes similar to a sticky layer of rubber solution. After removal of the excess solvent but prior to the complete drying of the sticky layer this surface is strewn with fibres of f. i. 2-3 mm. length of any desired origin. After strewing, it is advisable to exert on the surface now covered with fibres a moderate pressure (f. i. by means of a rubber air cushion), whereby t-he entry of the fibres into the adhesive layer is promoted. After complete drying vulcanization is effected in the usual manner.

However, if the articles have very thin walls it might happen that owing'to the action of the swelling agent the inner layers of the walls also may soften and may be distorted during the subsequent operations. Again sometimes rubber has a composition which when swelling does not give a sufficiently sticky surface. In such cases it is possible to effect the swelling of the rubber by means of a swelling agent containing an adhesive. However it is more advisable to accomplish the attachment of the fibres by means of a separate adhesive la er.

Accordingly an inflatable an previously vulcanized animal figure, assembled from sheets of about 0.3-0.4 mm. thickness, is coated by dipping with a rubber benzol solution of 1020% concentration mixed with 0.5-1 of a sticky resin soluble in benzol, such as mastic or the like. After draining off the solution the fibre-cover is applied according to the preceding example. Subsequent to drying, the article is vulcanized in the vapor of sulphur chloride. Preferably the vulcanization is effected by heat, in which case the rubber solution naturally must contain, in addition to the above mentioned basic materials, the material necessary for the hot vulcanization, such as sulphur, accelerator, fillers etc. In some cases it is possible to coat the article in a still unvulcanized condition with the rubber solution and thereafter with the fibre cover, whereby one vulcanizing operation can be dispensed with.

When dipping articles of complicated shape into the rubber solution mixed with the adhesive, and .in the draining-off operation, it is often inevitable that due to the owing off of the rubber solution too much rubber solution remains at some places and too little of the rubber solution remains adhering at other places. In order to avoid this disadvantage it is possible to proceed so that the vulcanized or unvulcanized article to be coated with the fibre-cover is first dried perfectly or nearly perfectly after dipping it into the rubber solution mixed with the adhesive, and to swell it thereafter again by dipping the adhesive layer into benzol, and to then first apply fibres. The advantage of this method of working consists in that during immersion in the solvent a uniform thickness of the dried rubber layer swells throughout, so that the whole article will be coated with a uniform adhering layer. Instead of dipping, the rubber solution can be applied to the article in any other known manner. If it is desired not to coat the whole article but only a part or parts of its surface with the fibre-cover, then either the surface will be coated with the rubber solution only at said part or parts and strewn with the fibres. If desired, larger parts might be coated with the rubber solution but when the fibres are spread, said part or parts should be protected by a superposed stencil or the like. If necessary, the fibrecover can be partly or wholly dyed before OI' after vulcanization prior or subsequent to applying it to the article. The improved article has a surface which is of fabric-like appearance, and the improved article can be repeatedy stretched and otherwise handled,

without losing this characteristic surface appearance. I

The fibres can be of any desired origin, but thefibrous waste of the textile industry is preferably used. According to quality various effects can be attained. Thus very short cotton fibres yield an appearance and grip very similar to buck skin or flannel. On the other hand skins can be imitated by usin long fibres. Rubber toys which are thus ma e can have their rubber walls stretched more than one hundred per cent.

We claim:

l. An inflatable and defiatable hollow rubber toy, having a rubber wall, said rubber wall being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having separated fibres connected thereto so that the stretchability of said rubber wall is substantially undiminished.

2. A hollow rubber toy having a wall which is made of rubber, said rubber wall being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having a film of rubber thereon, said film having separated fibres connected thereto, said fibres bein sufficiently separated so that the stretchability of said rubber wall is substantially undiminished.

3. A hollow rubber toy, having a wall which is made of rubber, said rubber wall being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having a film comprising rubber and an adhesive, said film having separated fibres connected thereto, said fibres being sufficiently separated so that the stretchability of said rubber wall is substantially'undiminished.

4. A hollow rubber toy having a wall which is made of rubber, said rubber toy being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having a lm of rubber thereon said film having separated fibres connected thereto, said fibres being sufficiently separated so that the stretchability of said rubber wall is substantially undiminished, said film of rubber being vulcanized.

5. A hollow rubber toy, having a wall which is made of rubber, said rubber wall being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having a film comprising rubber and an adhesive, said film having separated fibres connected thereto, said fibres being sufficiently separated so that the st-retchability of said rubber wall is substantially undiminished, said film of rubber being vulcanized.

6. An inflatable and defiatable hollow rubber toy having a rubber wall, said rubber wall being freely stretchable, the outer surface of said wall having separated fibres connected thereto so that said outer surface has a fabriclike appearance, said fibres being suiciently separated so that the stretchabity of said rubber Wall is substantially undiminished, so that said rubber Wall can be stretched 5 without having its surface lose said fabriclike appearance.

In witness whereof we have signed hereunto our names.

IsTxN DOROGI. LAJos DOROGI. 

